How important is the Centre Speaker ?

I've tried both and prefer with the center channel. It seems more focus and involving. The other thing that bugs me about phantom channel is that on some DVD extras, it doesn't work without a center, all I hear is the info coming from the LR, I think they assume I have a center, or am I doing something wrong?

For music, where there is no screen to get in the way, the center front speaker is far and away the most important. This has been true from the earliest days of stereo sound, and did not have to wait for multichannel discs. For movies or TV I think that the best solution is two center speakers close to each side of the screen. This is better than diverting the center signal to the more widely spaced left and right front speakers.

Kkm, you may be doing something wrong. You have to program your processor to 'NO Center', so it knows to send the center information to FR & FL speakers. Otherwise the center information will still be going to the center channel speaker, whether you have one there or not.